Cleaning swab

ABSTRACT

A cleaning swab for cleaning the surface of an image sensor of a digital camera, projector, video camera or the like is disclosed to include a handle having an expanded flat front end, and a flat absorptive cleaning head fastened to the expanded flat front end of said handle by heat sealing. The flat absorptive cleaning head has a non thermo-compression bonded main cleaning edge disposed at the front side, and two thermo-compression bonded side edges disposed at two opposite lateral sides and joined by the non thermo-compression bonded main cleaning edge.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to swabs and more particularly, to a cleaning swab for cleaning an image sensor component of an electronic device.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many cleaning swabs have been disclosed, and have appeared on the market. These cleaning swabs commonly comprise a handle and a cleaning head fastened to one end of the handle. The cleaning head is made of cotton or absorptive fiber materials, having the front side and the two opposite lateral sides formed by means of a thermo compression bonding technique. These commercial cleaning swabs are suitable for cleaning the surfaces of regular electronic products. However, these commercial cleaning swabs are not practical for use to clean the surface of an image sensor component. An image sensor, for example, charge-coupled device is a special semiconductor device having sensitive photoelectric means. In a single lens reflex camera, the charge-coupled device is a very important component. The surface of the charge-coupled device is sensitive to dust. Any tiny piece of dust left on the surface of the charge-coupled device will result in a dark spot on the image caught. This dark spot will be more apparent when taking a picture with a relatively smaller aperture value (<F16) or a long focal refracting lens. For cleaning the charge-coupled device of a camera or the like, a special cleaning device is necessary. Because conventional cleaning swabs commonly have the front and lateral side edges thermo-compression bonded. When moving the thermo-compression bonded front edge into contact with the surface of the charge-coupled device, the hard front edge may scratch the surface of the charge-coupled device. Further, the limited connection area between the handle and the cleaning head of a conventional cleaning swab may cause lifted dust to fall to the surface of the charge-coupled device again during the cleaning operation. Further, if the cleaning head is bonded to the handle with an adhesive, the adhesive may be dissolved by the applied cleaning fluid during a cleaning operation, causing the surface of the charge-coupled device to be contaminated by the dissolved adhesive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a cleaning swab, which is practical for use to clean an image sensor without causing damage to the surface of the image sensor.

To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, a cleaning swab comprises a handle having an expanded flat front end, and a flat absorptive cleaning head fastened to the expanded flat front end of said handle by heat sealing. The flat absorptive cleaning head has a non thermo-compression bonded main cleaning edge disposed at the front side, and two thermo-compression bonded side edges disposed at two opposite lateral sides and joined by the non thermo-compression bonded main cleaning edge. Because the front edge of the cleaning head is a non thermo-compression bonded edge, cleaning the surface of an image sensor with the non thermo-compression bonded main cleaning edge through a direct contact will never damage the surface of the image sensor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The FIGURE is an exploded view of a cleaning swab in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the FIGURE, a cleaning swab in accordance with the present invention is shown comprising a handle 1 and a flat absorptive cleaning head 2.

The absorptive cleaning head 2 is fastened to an expanded flat front end of the handle 1, having a main cleaning edge 5 disposed at the front side thereof remote from the handle 1, and two opposite side edges 3 and 4 disposed at two opposite lateral sides and joined by the main cleaning edge 5. The main cleaning edge 5 is a non thermo-compression bonded edge. The two opposite side edges 3 and 4 are thermo-compression bonded edges. Further, connection between the handle 1 and the absorptive cleaning head 2 is achieved by heat sealing.

During application, hold the handle 1 by hand to move the front end, i.e., the main cleaning edge 5 of the absorptive cleaning head 2 into direct contact with the surface of the object to be cleaned. Before cleaning the surface of the object to be cleaned, the main cleaning edge 5 may be dipped into a leaning fluid so that the main cleaning edge 5 effectively cleans the surface of the object to be cleaned upon a direct contact.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims. 

1. A cleaning swab, comprising: a handle having an expanded flat front end; and a flat absorptive cleaning head fastened to the expanded flat front end of said handle, said flat absorptive cleaning head having a non thermo-compression bonded main cleaning edge disposed at a front side thereof remote from said handle.
 2. The cleaning swab as claimed in claim 1, wherein said flat absorptive cleaning head has two thermo-compression bonded side edges disposed at two opposite lateral sides and joined by said non thermo-compression bonded main cleaning edge.
 3. The cleaning swab as claimed in claim 1, wherein said flat absorptive cleaning head is fastened to the expanded flat front end of said handle by heat sealing. 